Combine rainfall and temperature on one map?
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It would be very informative if there was a forecast map combining rainfall and temperature.
In general, it is rare that rainfall covers large areas, being mostly confined to fronts or rain bands.. A map showing rain where there is any rain in a cell but otherwise showing air temperature would give a very realistic impression of how weather actually "Feels" to most people.
Rainfall density could be shown, say, on a blue to purple colour scale and temperature, say, from a green to red colour scale. Rainfall would take priority. I.e. temperature in a cell would be only be shown where there is no rain.
This might also partly address the related feature request to display "Fronts" previously refused because of the need for subjective interpretation. This proposed technique of combining rainfall and temperature is totally automatic "Fronts" or simply weather boundaries would show up naturally with temperature changes either side of the rain bands.
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Combining different data overlays on same map would be really useful, not only for temperature and rain; see also this post "About overlaying different types of data layers on maps".
Fronts are not available in weather forecast models; they are only provided in specific weather forecast messages (SIGWX, SIGMET, etc.), generated by humans...
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@vsinceac Thanks for the input. indeed "Fronts" would require intervention. However, a front or simply a weather change boundary would be intuitively visible and would show up automatically on a map combining temperature and rain as I'm suggesting here.
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About fronts and humans, see e.g. this article; it mainly explains why forecasters' brain is still necessary, conjointly to forecast models, to draw fronts...
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@vsinceac Thanks again. I totally agree. I think my mentioning "Fronts" is a distraction here. I would be very happy with simply showing rain if there is any, otherwise temperature. Weather boundaries will show up naturally with different temperatures either side of any rain bands.
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@Dcampbell305
You cannot expect to see front boundaries with surface temperatures. The temperature difference (more exactly the potential temperature difference) between cold and warm air masses is generally considered at 850hPa to draw fronts. The surface temperature (2m) is « levelled » by the temperature of ground or sea. -
@idefix37 Thanks for the input. I realise my use of the word "Front" is a distraction. Simply showing rain and temperature on the map would give a realistic "Feel" to the weather and be useful to most people. It would also show weather changes even if not "Fronts". Isobar and wind direction (already provided) complete the picture.
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@Dcampbell305
I agree that superimpose 2 layers would be a nice feature, but it would need to control transparency of each of them, except if rain hides the temperature layer as you propose. -
Leaflet framework has transparency controls for each data overlay plotted on canvas, it just had to be implemented...
As already said, combining any data overlays on same map could always be useful, for different analysis; the selections would by only under the user's responsibility, thus up to him to select pertinent layers to combine... -
@Dcampbell305
When in rain, thunder layer, you can chose "more layers" and display temperature isolines.
Also temperature at many cities are shown.
So, you can have "rainfall and temperature on one map!
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@idefix37 Thanks for this, and it is true that you have both rain and temperature. AND it's available now! :-) What I had assumed is that the existing isobar (pressure) view would still be available. If one uses the isocline for temperature, one loses the classic and familiar "Pressure" chart view. My suggestion comes from more of a layman's "What's the weather doing?" point of view. Arguably the most important items to a layman are "Is is going to rain today?" followed by "How sunny / warm will it be?" and then "How windy?" If we added a cloud cover layer based on greyscale and use the existing arrows animation for wind, then my suggestion provides all that in a familiar "Weather forecast" view
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@Dcampbell305
Your reply was probably to @Gkikas-LGPZ ? :-) -
@idefix37 Indeed so! Apologies to both!
